Dare County Board of Elections certifies 2025 results, Kitty Hawk mayoral race determined by 3 votes

The Dare County Board of Elections met Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Manteo and certified the municipal election results. (Screenshot of Dare County’s meeting livestream)

By Corinne Saunders

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MANTEO — The Dare County Board of Elections certified the results of the 2025 municipal election in its Friday, Nov. 14, canvass meeting in the Board of Commissioners Meeting Room in the Dare County Administration building in Manteo.

The Kitty Hawk mayoral race, originally listed as having been determined by two votes and the only race in Dare County for which a recount could have been demanded, was certified as having been separated by three votes.

Charlotte Deloatch Walker, an incumbent town council member, was the projected winner as of the night of Election Day, having received 366 votes to former mayor and candidate Gary Perry’s 364 votes.

A subsequently approved provisional ballot increased her lead from two to three votes.

The board of elections considered and voted upon provisional ballots cast during the election in its Nov. 7 meeting, at which time it approved a provisional ballot that included a vote cast for Walker, according to Kelly McPherson, elections director for Dare County.

The certified results reflected that update, with Walker leading Perry, 367 to 364.

This meant Walker received 49.86% of the vote, Perry received 49.46% and write-in candidates (five ballots) in that race received 0.68% of the vote.

Perry could have requested a recount at any time before 5 p.m. Monday, as results fell within the threshold of 1% of total votes cast required by state statute to request a recount, but he did not.

“He had submitted a letter saying that he wasn’t, and he didn’t,” McPherson said on Tuesday.

During Outer Banks Insider’s candidate interviews for town-specific municipal election coverage, Perry said that he ran because a group of citizens had asked him to.

“I didn’t really want to do it, but I was asked to do it,” he said in October.

Pending state certification, Charlotte Deloatch Walker (right) is poised to become the next mayor of Kitty Hawk, following a three-vote win over candidate Gary Perry (left), a former Kitty Hawk mayor. As of the night of Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, results showed Walker leading by two votes, and an additional vote was counted after a provisional ballot was certified on Friday, Nov. 7. (Photos courtesy Perry and Walker, respectively)

The only other significant change to original election results was that any write-in candidate receiving five or more votes is now reported by name in the published election results.

In Dare County, none of the write-ins were elected. Four are now named.

These included Stuart Wescott in the Manteo commissioners’ race, with 54 votes; Ronald Seidman II in the Kill Devil Hills commissioners’ race, with 16 votes; Mike Stone in the Southern Shores mayoral race, with 10 votes; and Mark Perry in the Kitty Hawk Town Council race, with five votes.

One discrepancy, explained

Only one voter count discrepancy was discussed and submitted to the state as part of the certified results.

In Nags Head, a prospective voter received a ballot, decided he was unable to vote and handed it back without voting for anyone, McPherson told the board of elections during its Friday meeting.

“They were given the ballot, they took possession of the ballot, [but] after looking at the ballot, they decided that they were not educated enough…to vote,” McPherson said. “And so they chose not to vote and they gave the ballot back to the ballot station.”

However, receiving the ballot counts as the act of voting based on North Carolina Administrative Code, she noted. Thus, the public vote count for Dare County in the 2025 election is 3,407, but the voter history includes 3,408 voters.

The board agreed and unanimously voted to certify the results, leaving the numerical discrepancy with the explanation and the understanding that because no selections were made on the ballot that McPherson said was “spoiled,” it did not affect any election outcomes.

Sandie Markland, chair of the Dare County Board of Elections, at the end of Friday’s meeting thanked the board for its hard work.

“During this process, even these small elections generate an awful lot of work—so it’s good practice for what’s coming next year,” Markland said.

The board then met Wednesday afternoon for about two minutes to complete paperwork for the 230 write-in candidates at the request of the state board of elections, McPherson said, noting that it was a formality that did not change any results.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections will certify the 2025 election results at its Tuesday, Nov. 25, canvass meeting, McPherson said.

At that point, the previously reported unofficial results for Dare County, updated with the approved provisional ballots and four named write-in candidates, will become official.

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